Unhappily, this passage also contained the stairway
flight which led into the upper story of the building; and, in her haste
to accomplish her return, she had penetrated too far to effect her
retreat, when a sudden change of direction in the light which Rivers
carried sufficed to develop the form of that person, at the foot of the
stairs, followed by Munro, just returning from the attempt which she had
rendered fruitless, and now approaching directly toward her.
Conscious of the awkwardness of her situation, and with a degree of
apprehension which now for the first time seemed to paralyze her
faculties, she endeavored, but with some uncertainty and hesitation of
manner, to gain the shelter of the wall which stretched dimly beside
her; a hope not entirely vain, had she pursued it decisively, since the
lamp which Rivers carried gave forth but a feeble ray, barely adequate
to the task of guiding the footsteps of those who employed it. But the
glance of the outlaw, rendered, it would seem, more malignantly
penetrating from his recent disappointment, detected the movement; and
though, from the imperfectness of the light, uncertain of the object,
with a ready activity, the result of a conviction that the
long-sought-for victim was now before him, he sprang forward, flinging
aside the lamp as he did so, and grasping with one hand and with rigid
gripe the almost-fainting girl: the other, brandishing a bared knife,
was uplifted to strike, when her shrieks arrested the blow.
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